


Vrains Meta

by merryfortune



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Archived From Tumblr, Gen, Meta, crossposted on tumblr, fannish non-fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2019-09-07 01:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 10,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16844491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merryfortune/pseuds/merryfortune
Summary: Vrains metas associated with the incorrect-vrains-quotes tumblr as well as my personal account.





	1. Reading of Aoi's Design Aspects

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to incorrect-vrains-quotes June 22nd 2017

## Aoi may have some sort of fixation on innocence.

Her child self wore her hair in the curly twin pony tails thing and her current Blue Angel persona wears her hair that way too. 

At some point between childhood (I’d estimate 5 years old) and adolescence (current 16ish year old self) she cut her hair quite short. Such a transformation usually has very strong connotations in Japanese symbolism relating to drastic change so it is safe to assume something dire may have happened to trigger that physical change.

However, Blue Angel wears her hair in this style so this could be representative of Aoi trying to get back to the past. Furthermore, idol culture is very heavily imbued with innocence and purity. Not to mention, the whole Angel part of her shtick and the symbolism we got to portray how broken she became as a result of using the Hanoi card.

Therefore, I think we can assume that because of something in her past (e it her parents’ death, Akira’s accidental isolation, the missing children incident), Aoi wants to get back to a more innocent time.

**Possible clues to her psyche:**

  * when she opens the Circuit, she uses poetic language evoking dreams and wishes
  * her skill is called Trickstar Fraud; this might be representative of some sort of lie or the dissonance between her Vrains self and her real world self



**Other Observations:**

Aoi and Akira may have conflicting needs and interests. Akira was going after financial and physical safety whereas Aoi needed emotional security during the time of tragedy. Akira and Aoi, not realising this, accidentally may have driven a wedge in their relationship which has calcified as not really understanding one another.

Furthermore, as a consequence of this, Aoi is now addicted to the prise she receives as a Duelist as it somewhat fills the void of familial love she desires,


	2. what if Yusaku's Link Sense is due to the Lost Incident?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This meta was originally posted to my main account 27th July 2017.

This is a Good Question and I am excited to answer it. Would have done it sooner but I was in class when you sent it but now, before I get into Assessment Mode, I’m gonna give you a Good Answer. ~~(and by Good Answer I mean a ridiculously long answer riddled with unnecessary information because I love the sound of my own voice)~~

My personal pet theory is that Yusaku had this ability prior to any lab experiments. It might have been latent or dormant or something but I am quite certain that it was at least slightly manifested prior to any experiments.

Unfortunately, this pet theory becomes holey when you take into account it is highly likely that Aoi and Go were part of the same experiment and therefore if they were selected by the same criteria as Yusaku then they may have manifested some sort of ability prior but given what we’ve seen so far (which is nothing) my theory breaks.

So from here on out, I’m going to discuss your theory but I just wanted to disclaim I do have a personal pet theory and whilst I like yours, I'm gonna coddle mine for a little bit longer but I will discuss what I like about yours.

Your theory is much more likely; especially in conjunction to other fanon and speculation I’ve seen which is that children with orphan/minimal family backgrounds were screened and likely given some sort of connection to artificial intelligence. And something about birds?????????

Given what we saw in episode 11, it is clear something similar to the Numbers Hunter exams from Kaito/Gauche/Droite’s past might have been going on where skilled Duelists were brought together to test The Limit. Obviously Vrains is diverging from there where they may not have been necessarily looking for skilled Duelists; so maybe more like what Divine was doing with Psychic Duelists in 5D’s. Either way, we are obviously screening for very tough children to Duel.

The voice is interesting because I’ve seen hope and speculation that it belongs to Revolver and that would explain why he and Yusaku share the Three Reasons Quirk without making them family. I’m not big on that and this is just a slightly related tangent. 

The tangent I want to connect that piece of information to is that I believe the voice belongs to that of the Artificial Intelligence I believe the children may have been paired with. A sort of either, a) Proto-Ignis or b) one of the other Cyberse AIs or c) a combination of both.

Now back to what you said about other Yu-Gi-Oh! protagonists who have been able to manifest cards out of thin air (or from the Zexal or the Pendulum or the Crimson Dragon or I haven’t watched DM enough to know Yugi and Atem do it) and that’s an interesting point to bring up since out of a l l of them Yusaku has the least bullshit reason to be able to do that. In my opinion, anyway. Storm Access is broken as anything given my understanding of how game mechanics should and should not work; kind of, it’s implied its like a gatcha machine so maybe one day we’ll see someone pull out a genuinely useless card but because its a fucking anime, I doubt that (but I want to hope)

And whilst the previous protagonists have vaguely supernatural reasons to do that (reincarnation among others), Yusaku’s abilities are firmly rooted in that of sci-fi conventions like technopathy or techomancy or whatever you wanna call it.

Their other supernatural abilities of course being body/spirit swapping and fusion among other things. All of which are in root with historic mythologies of some sort be it Egyptian or Aztec which completely diverges with Yusaku who’s powers are revolving around man’s ability to excel through science. This sort of is at odds with Revolver’s speech who likened it to the tale of Prometheus and we can definitely take that as some sort of symbolic significance since it inspired Ignis’ name and plenty of the ‘hell’ symbols regarding Revolver (his hair, his facelessness, the way he talks) and regarding the internet and how it is portrayed as an abyss here and there.

This comes across as contradictory but its kind of not since “experimenting on ESP children” is a very common trope in sci-fi despite the abilities kind of being more of a non-scientific nature. The contradiction blends well with what we’ve seen of subtext regarding Revolver and his hostility towards AIs. And, to quote the judge from the writing comp i went to last night, “the best stories are the ones that are full of contradictions” so if Vrains is one of those stories, it will be interesting to see the ygo spin on it.

All in all, I think it is highly likely given current information that we’ve seen in episode content (not outside content or analysis of the openings/endings), I’d say you are on the right track in thinking the ability may come through arduous development in those testing rooms. It would certainly account for if Aoi and Go never show ‘psychic’ abilities - they were failed test subjects ~~but they’re winners in my eyes~~


	3. Spectre & the Earth Ignis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted to my personal account September 26th 2018.

Ai says that Earth is the Ignis which understands human emotions best. Yusaku’s hunch is that Spectre is the child who Earth was modeled on and to me, that makes perfect sense and not just because Yusaku’s first thought when Earth summoned a tree to use as his foothold in the duel reminded him of Spectre.

Spectre despite his trauma and deeply misanthropic core does seem to understand human nature very well. After all, he was able to manipulate Blue Angel in their duel and find all her emotional weak points to pressure. He likes to know everything about someone before dueling them, too.

Whilst Earth’s love for his brethren the Ignis and possible compassion or sympathy for humans is very positive and wholesome, Spectre has no such love. But, he still understands the inner workings of the human mind very well.

Spectre’s emotions on the Lost Incident was that it was what would make him special. Someone wanted something important from him, important enough to torture him. So, it’s possible the take away was the desire to please others. Earth seems to want to please others. Hence why Aqua told him to form his own decisions on where his allegiances ought to lie in the Human vs Ignis war rather than simply agreeing with her stance.

So, if it does get 100% confirmed that Earth is Spectre’s Ignis, I think it makes sense that the Ignis who understands human emotions best, is Spectre’s despite his utter contempt and disconnect for his fellow humans. Plus, there is something beautiful about the paralleling of love and hate between them. 


	4. Spectre & the Water Ignis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted to my personal account September 27th 2018.  
> Edited on July 21st 2019.

This feels rather unlikely but its a scenario I want to explore nonetheless. Yesterday I talked about how Spectre and Earth could be a Child/Ignis pair based off how Spectre is a master of understanding someone’s core in a twisted way whilst how Earth is the Ignis who understands human emotion best. Given that it is completely jossed that Windy is Spectre’s Ignis, there is still the possibility of Aqua being Spectre’s Ignis instead.

Based on the home lives of Takeru and Yusaku, they were dueling to return to someone dear to them. Takeru had his parents, his grandparents, even possibily Kiku. Whilst we know little of Yusaku’s past, he was clearly trying to return home. Spectre, of course, was the opposite.

He dueled because he wanted to fulfill the hopes of the captor. He didn’t have anyone… except his mother. He mentions that he was only worried for her; not about anyone else. So, this feminine prescence in his life was the only external source of motivation he had and that is something the Ignis - in this speculation, Aqua - could be formed around.

Based on what Earth and Ai have recalled about Aqua, she’s very much the team mother. She cares for their safety and reprimands/scolds them when they’re being unruly.

So, it is possible, she was drawn from Spectre’s love of his mother. Furthermore, this still sets up a love/hate parallel between Spectre and an Ignis; something that Vrains could really use thematically. Especially with Spectre’s callous character.

Additionally, the interaction of water and trees could play out thematically in a relationship as Ignis and Origin between them as well. Water is a requirement for trees to grow nice and healthy; given that Spectre, the son of the trees, is currently stifled by his criminal activities as a member of the Knights of Hanoi, therefore "unhealthy", a relationship with Aqua would remedy that. After all, one way in which the Ignis and Origins have interacted, is that the Ignis have given back something to their partner; for Yusaku, it was joy and connections; for Takeru, it was courage. For Spectre, should his hypothetical partner be Aqua, it would probably be a "healthy" love.

Furthermore, Spectre and Aqua are both tied to Blue Angel. Aqua shares many physical similarities with Blue Angel: both the Vrains avatar and the in-universe book character. Their connections to these characters through relationships shared with Aoi, both Spectre and Aqua have interacted with her and changed the course of her character, as well as physical ones: Aqua has the iconic twin pigtails, wide "skirt", and teardrop markings, related to Blue Angel's blue tears. It would certainly be thematically interesting if Aqua was related to Spectre's desire for "blue love"; connecting again to the previous possibility that Spectre's "love" was taken from the Incident or was what sculpted his Ignis.

Another interesting scenario is that Aqua has the ability to see through people’s lies. Given Spectre’s distrust of people due to his experiences growing up, this is likely a talent that he does posses; arguably, you could say he uses this in his duel against Blue Angel. He saw through her lies regarding her sense of self and used that to his advantage to play mind games with her. 

Also, I really want a male/female child/Ignis pair because that is a slightly more interesting dynamic that just same-gender pairs.


	5. A Freudian Reading of Spectre

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This meta was originally posted to my personal account 13th October 2018.

Spectre is a sadomasochistic man who fetishes his trauma to cope and we’re going to explore that.

Beginning with his deck, the very basis is to take damage and to turn it into pleasure (healing). This alone speaks volumes about the patterns we have been shown in his life and on screen. Not to mention, he himself has a vicious personality and delights in excessively causing harm. So, it’s safe to say that he takes delight in being hurt as much as hurting others. Thus, a sadomasochistic position develops.

Very bluntly and very obviously, we have a character with mother issues. All of which stems from being abandoned by his birth mother within days of being born and then being placed into care where he did not receive the nurturing he required. So, instead, he drew upon an unconventional source: the tree that protected him during his infancy until he was taken to the orphanage.

Here, he develops disdain not just for women but people. Although, given that he very firmly believes this tree is his mother, he is shown repeatedly towards Blue Angel as being vindictive towards her gender and her ‘love’ infuriates him so their duel definitely has that sort of subtext. She tried to ‘love’ him and he rejected that ‘love’ because women in his past - specifically his birth mother and presumably female carers at the orphanage - failed him.

In his duel with Playmaker, when his backstory comes to light, his participation in the Lost Incident seems to have completely unhinged him. He takes great delight in reliving the pain from the experience. Even though he was shocked and tortured, he would enthusiastically keep playing.

Also, the thing with the tentacles. He receives his healing through being tied up (bondage) and vines are often used as phallic imagery, especially instances of being used as a restraint. Plants and trees, in general, are associated with sexual imagery and can even be either the object of fetish or as a sex symbol. 

Throughout many of his scenes, Spectre is also known to make rather grotesque faces. It could be argued, and in this Freudian essay, it shall be that these faces come from places of sexual pleasure. 

Furthermore, according to a documentary series I’ve been watching lately, children who do not receive the bare minimum of maternal nurturing during infancy often turn to crime. Spectre’s activities within Hanoi very much follows that.

All in all, I believe that it is highly possible that Spectre fetishes his pain to cope with his trauma. Both related to his abandonment as an infant and what he experienced during the Lost Incident.


	6. Debunking Blood Shepherd as a Child of the Lost Incident

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted to incorrect-vrains-quotes on November 21st 2018.  
> This meta has been subsequently deleted for making the user I was replying to in Tumblr ask-format uncomfortable.

not to be rude anon but i hhhhhhhhhhate this theory. it doesn’t make sense in the timeline. Like,,,, it’s pretty effing obvious that Kogami went after kids who were like 5-8. The flashbacks we’ve been shown very clearly shows these tiny little pudgy bodies. Kengo would have been like 16, possibly even older, at the time incident. It just doesn’t co-exist.

also, I don’t think it makes thematic sense. I had the revelation, literally this morning, that the Kids and the Ignis sort of balance each other out. Windy and Blood Shepherd do not have this.

  * Yusaku & Ai: Yusaku is very uptight and depressing to be around. Ai is very loose and happy-go-lucky.
  * Takeru & Flame: Takeru is shown to be rather impulsive and reckless. Flame is more level-headed that that.
  * Jin & Lightning: Jin, based on what we know about him pre-Incident, was may have been similar to Takeru. That is to say very fun or positive reward oriented and still coming to understand consequence since Jin, in my opinion, was probably the youngest. Post-Incident, he is meek and spends most his time being petrified. Lightning however is calculated and confident.
  * Spectre & Earth: Spectre is very cruel. Earth is very kind. However, they are both bound by their ability to understand emotions of others; just in different ways.
  * Miyu & Aqua: Miyu was unable to stand up to her mother and reveal the truth; well, she did try but it was an understandably feeble effort. Aqua’s Special Ability is being able to detect truth and lies.



Kengo & Windy would not fit that pattern as they are very similar without being mirrored reflections of each other, as with the example of Spectre and Earth. Furthermore, given the Ignis were born from duelling and the thoughts that went into those duels, so it wouldn’t make sense to abruptly end this pattern.

Now, the only plot thread I can’t explain is the car accident and I’m assuming the car accident is the crux of the theory. I would like to point out that car accidents (and comas) are very convenient ways to get characters out of the way, especially in Yu-Gi-Oh!

However, if memory serves correct, there was already a tipped over truck on-screen as Kengo and his mother arrived. So I personally speculate, that truck was a moving truck. In the passenger seat, would have been the Lost Incident Kid, his parent(s), and the driver.

And Windy might have briefly possessed Kengo’s taxi either on his way out from escaping the scene or to cause further calamity which would have helped mask his tracks.

EDIT: I had more thoughts apparently

Ryoken was clearly bait and it would have been very hard for him to goad an adolescent into helping him unless it was a “help me look for my dog type” situation and even then, adolescents can better detect lies or falses premises in someone Ryoken’s age as opposed to kids slightly younger than Ryoken. So, Kengo would likely have gotten suspicious and whatnot.

children in the 5-8 are very malleable and still learning so their results would have been “purer” instead of using adolescents who have a more grounded perspective of their identities.

the 5-8 age group also probably more similar to the Ignis program as well as they would have been learning similar moral lessons as well.

So that is my That on that

And another thing, Blood Shepherd only became Like That post car accident. Prior to that, we have no indication of him being that hateful which would have inspired Windy, if he was his origin.

Like, remember how in Episode 20 ish, Yusaku still didn’t know that Ai/the Ignis were directly correlated with the Lost Incident. So, if anti-AI sentiments were started, it was not started there.

Not to mention, and I find this just terrible writing, Blood Shepherd stated in the recent episode that he didn’t really know who the Knights of Hanoi were. Like, if he had gone through the Lost Incident, there is a good chance - given his personality - he would have pulled a Yusaku.

It’s just not happening. This theory is terrible but I love debunking it.


	7. Pansexual Interpretation of Spectre

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This meta was originally posted to incorrect-vrains-quotes on 3rd December 2018 and in celebration of Pansexual Awareness Week.

Ok, so there’s like three layers as to why I headcanon Spectre as pansexual.

The first layer is the easiest layer. I’m pan and I love him so that makes him pan. 

The second layer is I ship him with at least one girl. I think, as a character, Spectre is very mlm-leaning but I still think romantic or sexual attraction to girls is possible for him; it could even make for an interesting story given that its highly likely that he hates women due to his past. Therefore, closing him off to the possibility of different gender relationships is unappealing to me because there’s an interesting story there, in my opinion. I think him and Miyu could be cute because it could echo Earth/Aqua. 

Hell, I’ve already begun a MiyuSpe fluff fic and I have some Ryoken/All Lost Children fics where they interact as well. So by keeping him m-spec, I don’t feel weird about putting him in those sorts of relationships. Compare to Serena from Arc V, I hardcore headcanon her as a lesbian but yikes, I’ve got a fair few fics where she’s written into m/f (and m/m/f) relationships. And I feel very weird about that but whatever, most those fics are request fics so yeah.

The third layer is the most complicated layer because I have all this imagined lore for Spectre and its all intertwined between meta, quotes, and fanfic I’ve written. Fun fact: I have posted 19 fanfics for Vrains and of them, Spectre appears in 6. So the final layer is basically the condensation of how I characterise Spectre and his romantic or sexual liaisons. 

Before we continue any further, I would like to note that Spectre’s age is unconfirmed and I see him as the oldest of the Lost Children and as Ryoken’s age (18). 

Anyways, I perceive Spectre’s sexuality as being irrevocably entangled by paraphilias. Based on his backstory, I believe it’s entirely possible that Spectre has a dendrophilia fetish and based on his duels, I think its also possible he’s into some weird shit (tentacles come to mind first but he’s probably into restraints as well, I would also say electro-bondage, too).

So, I believe rather than prioritising a single gender or simply having multiple attractions to multiple genders, his number one value for coupling would be someone who is able to is able to cater to his paraphilias. I think his sexuality is very closely intertwined with his trauma which he fetishizes in order to cope. This is both from what he experienced as an abandoned infant to what he was put through in the Lost Incident.

Also, it’s worth noting that I have read stuff by other pansexuals and some pans conceptualise their sexuality very similarly due to their own traumas. I’m not one of these people; I’m merely attracted to all genders but I think it’s important to acknowledge other ways in which people can conceptualise sexuality.

Furthermore, Spectre is, in my opinion, a very Freudian character and the pansexual identity was retooled from Freud’s ideas; in fact, some people would go as far as saying Freud was the person who coined the word pansexual. So, I feel like a label with that sort of origin would appeal to Spectre who is very much absorbed by his mummy issues.

So yeah, the three layers of why I headcanon Spectre as pan.


	8. Jin & Spectre: Character Analysis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally posted to my personal account on the 23rd of January, 2019.

Jin and Spectre are so interesting and I know its Lightning vs Spectre, but Jin is still inherently involved as Lightning’s Origin and servant. Like Jin and Spectre are two very different characters but there’s the possibility of them being more similar than one might think. It feels like there is a tragedy between them, and it has my attention so I desire to interpret it. To me, it feels like they could be two reflections of the Incident in a way which is tightly intertwined.

Beginning with Spectre, he was expected to outwardly shun the Ignis and for some time, he absolutely was in-line with this expectation. Yet, he seems destined to rebel against such an expectation. After all, he grew fond of his despite never having met Earth, but mourned him anyway. He was visibly upset by the fact that Earth was desecrated as he was and inserted into Go Onizuka’s brain. 

Contrast, with Jin who never got the chance to make up his own mind regarding his Ignis. Instead, was forced into servitude to Lightning, regardless. Robbed of his agency, though its hard to determine how much agency he had in the first place due to how the Lost Incident changed him.

Both characters were part of the same traumatic, formative experience yet it had such profoundly different outcomes for them. For Spectre, time started moving forward. He enjoyed it: the pain, the suffering, the feeling of being needed for some bigger and grander than he could ever be without it. Whereas Jin, time stopped moving forward, similar to Yusaku but so much worse. After all, Jin shut down after the Incident. He was hospitalised for his trauma and has been hospitalised since.

Yet, prior to the Incident - and beyond it to - they led very different lives. Spectre who was the odd one out in his orphanage, more comfortable in nature than he could be with his fellow mankind. Jin who no doubt had two doting parents and an older brother to smother him, and still does. Then, even after they were rescued from the Incident, Jin was returned to that family that he likely clung to through the agony and despair. Yet, the family dynamic was irrevocably changed and damaged due to his shut-down. After all, why haven’t we seen Jin’s parents visit him in the hospital; why did Shoichi suggest that Jin come and live him, rather than them? 

Meanwhile, Spectre forged a family in those who hurt them; hurt him. He who swore loyalty and fealty to the Hanoi project and whilst his motivations remain stringent with such a pact, his heart wanders. As compared to Jin who has no such luxury.

Whilst, I’m certain that Spectre’s arc will culminate in being reunited with Earth and fostering a good friendship with him, I have no idea how Jin’s will. Jin who could do the same; foster a friendship with Lightning. Or, perhaps spurn him. After all, what Lightning did to him was wrong.

Ideally, it would be nice if all the Lost Incident Victims could come to a palatable conclusion regarding their connected past. And of them, there are some very intriguing combinations to bounce off of each other. Among said combinations, I think Jin and Spectre would be intriguing; but Spectre, for now anyway unless Jin or Windy’s Origin manages to supercede, has the most stark outlook onto the Incident.

Still, there’s a sense of these two characters being two sides of the same coin. Foils, perhaps. Juxtaposed. Inversions of what could have been, what is, and what just might be.


	9. A Freudian Reading of Kengo Dojun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted to my personal account 5th of March 2019.

Kengo “Blood Shepherd” Dojun fiercely protects his role as patriarch in his family in the absence of his father and has weird, semi-sexual subtext with his half-sister and possibly his mother, or at least he does according to the incestuous conventions of a Freudian reading. Using his character relationships, design, motifs, and arc, we shall dissect Dojun under this literary lens.

Beginning with the bread and butter of a Freudian reading, let us dissect if Kengo fulfils the possibility of having an Oedipal complex. Given that Kengo was able to ascend to the male role of a household quite quickly in his youth, he could have a possible desire to retain that and that he is hostile towards his father because he believes that his father is a threat to the status quo that he wishes to maintain.

The other half of the Oedipal reading is the mother-son relationship which has possibly curdled; usually on the son’s behalf. He clearly prizes his mother’s love and care, wanting to give her the best in life. Given that Kengo’s most positive interactions have been with his mother and wanting to lavish her with what she deserves, such as fine dining and good care, there is a possible argument for this. Especially in light of the consideration that the behaviours towards her are very 'date-like' behaviours and Kengo has not been shown to have romantic inclinations towards anyone or any history of such given what we know about his past. This note also becomes particularly interesting when in light of how some people interpreted his relationship with Ema in the early part of Season Two.

Continuing on from the parental introspections, his interactions with his father - and consequently with his young sister - demonstrates Dojun’s vicious hatred towards them. However, he overcomes this animosity towards his younger sister and his loathing appeared to dissipate with his father’s passing. That could mean, in his head, the threat of his place in the household has subsided and therefore, he can be at peace with his role in the lives of the women he co-exists with by blood.

Aside from a possible Oedipal reading of his complexities, there is also the possibility of an inappropriate brother-sister relationship as well. Early in Season Two, fans erroneously misread the subtext between Blood Shepherd and Ghost Girl as being more of ex-lovers, thus the coining of ‘Manipulateshipping’, rather than being half-siblings. This is, of course, due to the later reveal of their siblinghood. However, there should be no shame in this misreading as it pieces together a great piece of Dojun’s fictional psyche.

In conjunction to his character arc, Kengo is someone deeply troubled by ‘the home’. From the catalyst of much of his loathing from his father’s abandonment of the traditional family unit, to the accident which occurred on his mother’s birthday, to his unconventional relationship with his sister, most of Kengo’s character progression and exploration is tied deeply to that of the ‘family’. In his dying moments on screen, his redemptive shot was that of overcoming his animosity towards his sister and showing sympathy unto her, comforting her as he was destroyed. The reconciliation of the brother-and-sister could be an attempt at Kengo attempting to create his ideal family structure wherein he remains the patriarchal lead but has both his mother and sister as part of the unit that he reigns over as a protective figure.

Interestingly, Dojun’s relationships outside of the family structure are severely neglected by him. Compare and contrast his relationships with Akira Zaizen and Ryoken “Revolver” Kogami. Ryoken and Zaizen make up two of the major relationships Kengo has with other characters which isn’t defined by blood. Kengo treats Zaizen with outright hostility and in this meta, it will be argued he does so because he does, on some subconscious level, believes Zaizen to be an interloper and therefore a threat to his perceived, familial structure as he hosts a significant relationship, one with romantic or sexual sub-tones, with Ema. Meanwhile, Ryoken poses no such threat and even treats him with platonic affection – touching him on the shoulder, praising him – and yet, Kengo still reviles this. Therefore, it is possible that Kengo is trying to curate relationships which are important to him, so long as they are bound by blood.

Speaking of blood, his character also has a peculiar motif with blood. He dons the name of “Blood Shepherd” inside the Link VRAINS and given his strange background regarding his blood family, there is definitely a connection between these given his arc thus far. So, the Freudian reading of his blood motif would be that he is obsessed with his blood relations, especially those he has a passionate relationship with. That is to say, his protective instincts towards his mother, his loathing of his father, and his softer side towards his sister.

His other, most coherent motif is that of order and control – a motif most found in his deck. His deck utilises many militaristic titles which give a sense of hierarchy and in that hierarchy, an order is established and therefore control is maintained. Duellists often express some part of their psyche in their deck and therefore, its intriguing for a character so centred on the patricidal role in his perceived family structure to have such a deck. Especially, in conjunction to his outward hostility to anyone who is not part of this structure.

The final aspect of his character would be his design as his character design ties well with ‘repression’ as a Freudian theme. Repression as a commonly found in Freudian readings and is a theme which strikes a chord of resonance in the character of Kengo Doujun. He represses his sense of self by taking on physical barriers to his appearance so he can be undetected by AI programs and by other people, in general. Given his stunted social relations with people who are unrelated to him, it is possible that he attempting to stifle this part of himself, aside from creating a security mechanism which is linked to his rejection of modern life and how intertwined it is with technology.

In conclusion, Kengo “Blood Shepherd” Dojun is a character whose psyche is dominated by a desire to control and order his blood relations. This is substantiated by how he expresses himself through his relationships with both family and non-family members, but also through his duellist motifs of blood and hierarchy.


	10. How The Concept of Family Imprinted on the Ignises (using Kusanagi Shoichi as our lens)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted to incorrect-vrains-quotes on the 20th of March 2019.

So my thought process is, quite long and roundabout so bear with me. So first, let’s lay the groundwork which immediately connects to the topic at hand. I posit that Kusanagi Shoichi is just a magnet for the found family trope. Something about him intrinsically attracts wayward teens who are looking for, like, a big brother figure or something. Not even Aoi would be immune to his brotherly pheromones. Thus, with this benign strength, it could be possible that Kusanagi has the potential to exert it over the Ignises.

In fact, I’ll argue that he already has. After all, the design parallels between him and Bohman and between Jin and Haru have been hot topic for quite some time. It makes sense: Jin created Lightning and Lightning in turn designed the 9000 Brothers. And based on what we’ve been given, Shoichi and Jin clearly had a great brother-brother relationship prior to the Incident which brings me to my next point. 

I believe that Jin feels betrayed that Shoichi was unable to save him from the Incident. Miyu had Aoi and Yusaku had Ryoken but Jin didn’t feel like he had Shoichi. Thus, this fed into how Lightning was created as an Ignis. After all, Lightning clearly took inspiration from the Kusanagi Brothers when he created Bohman and Haru; not to mention, we see this in his sort of intrinsic character values. 

If my belief is true, then if Jin felt betrayed by Shoichi being unable to save him, then that soured the make-up that Lightning was given, as compared to say Aqua or Ai in the previous cases of Miyu and Yusaku respectively. Thus, Lightning became who he is today: self-reliant and unable to truly form positive bonds with others because that’s what Jin taught him in his familial grief. 

On an unrelated tangent, but based on dialogue that Shoichi gave in the last episode, it seems possible that he was tasked with babysitting or playing with Jin on the day he was kidnapped and some sort of negligence, on his behalf, caused Jin to be stolen away. I feel that including this will help contextualise the previous paragraph further to truly embed the message Jin gave Lightning through the Incident.

Now, to reconnect it to the possibility of the Ignises being susceptible to Kusanagi Shoichi’s found family magnetism. So, if Jin taught Lightning family values based on the hurt he felt over Shoichi being unable to save him, or look after him, then its highly likely that Lightning has some sort of coding strand, in his genome possibly, which makes him the most likely out of the Ignises to feel some sort of ‘positive warmth’ towards Kusanagi Shoichi. After all, I think Jin did cling to the positive memories he had of his brother that he formed prior to the Incident, but they were twisted by the hurt that he felt due to the Incident or the immediate lead-up to the Incident when he was kidnapped.

Ideally, this would mean that, if Lightning was to be redeemed or defanged, that could mean a stable Kusanagi Brothers-Light Ignis household which is what I personally want. After all, Lightning could be given the opportunity to explore how he perceives the family structure from within it and that could give us good Lightning-HalMan Brothers development which could be excellent.

Which does not directly lead to the next point which is, if Lightning - the indisputable and cold leader - of the Ignises, has the potential to pack bond with Kusanagi Shoichi and his familial pheromones, what of the other Ignises?

Well, it does get a touch tricky. After all, whilst Shoichi has the canonically acknowledged (thank you Takeru for pointing out the bond between Shoichi and Yusaku as being like family or even possibly something stronger) ability to attract and soothe wayward teens hankering for familial connection they are otherwise starved for, he didn’t know the LI Kids (with exception of Jin, of course) prior to the Incident. Furthermore, based on what we’ve seen, Jin was the only LI Kid who had a sibling; Takeru and Miyu both seem to be only children, Yusaku doesn’t even remember his family at all, Spectre has no fondness for the other orphanage children (or anyone at all), and we can only speculate about Windy’s Kid but at the moment, a safe bet would be to assign him as an only child as well. Therefore, the resulting Fire, Water, Dark, Earth, and Wind Ignises likely aren’t inclined toward the sibling structure like Lightning was, as we’ve seen again through Bohman and Haru’s relationship. So, let’s analyse the present.

Shoichi has interacted with Ai and Flame the most. He hasn’t met Aqua in person yet, but he probably feels affable towards her but for the sake of this part of my response, we’ll focus on Ai and Flame (and even then, mostly the former). But, for convenience’s sake, we’ll talk about the latter first as it will be more concise. Flame and Shoichi have had little on-screen time together. Of it, it was amicable. Mostly, Shoichi would interact with Takeru and Takeru seems to genuinely like and look up to Shoichi. No doubt feeling the effects of Shoichi’s big brother magnetism. So, through that, Flame has a positive relationship with Shoichi, but not necessarily one which has roots in some sort of familial complex. Especially since Takeru’s familal troubles seem to be disagreeing with his grandparents and mourning the loss of his parents after their sudden demise. Contrast directly with Ai.

Ai and Shoichi are best buds. I feel that they jibed and got along super well in Season One, before Yusaku was able to open his heart to Ai abit more. Before that, Ai and Shoichi had great banter (the binary days and Yusaku can’t talk to girls jokes spring to mind first) and I think that makes perfect sense. Yusaku, who’s memories presumably rapidly decomposed on him during the Incident, was likely hoping that there was someone nice and jovial looking out for him, to contrast his shyer personality. Someone like Shoichi, perhaps, to contrast The Voice who had helped inspired him and turned him unto his Three Reasons Why. So, it is possible that Ai, similar to Lightning, has something with his code which predisposes him to connect in overly familiar ways with people and is therefore, susceptible to Kusanagi’s powerful big brother energy.

With the remaining Ignises - Aqua, Earth, and Windy - things get a bit more tricky. But, we’ll start with Aqua as she is the most straightforward of our remaining three. It is no secret that Aqua is the mother hen of the Ignises and admittedly, I enjoy characterising Kusanagi as being a professional herder of cats when it comes to Yusaku’s group because I find it charming and endearing, though not necessarily rooted in canon. Unlike with Aqua and her very mothering tendencies (I still think we were robbed of a brilliant red herring if Spectre had been Aqua’s Origin but I digress). Now, Aqua and Shoichi - as far as I recall - have not had voice lines together; they haven’t interacted, even over the line. Unsurprising given that Aoi is more closely entwined with Akira and Ema and their group and Aoi is still unaware of Playmaker & Soulburner’s true identities and of the Hot Dog Truck HQ. So, this next part is pure conjecture but Aqua would absolutely be susceptible to Kusanagi Shoichi’s found family magnetism and she would probably adore how he looks after the boys. 

To substantiate this claim, Aqua was partially modelled on Miyu’s perception of Aoi. And, whilst the girls didn’t talk about Akira on-screen and whilst Miyu didn’t meet Akira on-screen, it does seem plausible that Miyu is aware of Akira’s existence and how he factors into Aoi. So, similar to how Jin would have imprinted memories and ideas of Shoichi onto Lightning, Miyu could have done something similar to Aqua, teaching her of familial structures unlike her own. Especially since Miyu seems to come from a one-child family.

Now, moving on from Aqua, let’s go to Earth. Earth is quite unique in that he had the Origin who actively enjoyed the Experiment and actively reviles his life prior to it. He is also, as far as we know, the only Ignis whose Origin’s family did not love him and the only family Spectre did love was his protective mother tree. Now, the relationship between Earth and Spectre is bizarre to say the least given the fact that they are on opposite sides of the Human-Ignis warfare, never met, and yet Spectre mourned his passing regardless. So, it is difficult to identify what sort of ideas or memories that Spectre may have shared or taught Earth, especially since, unlike say Miyu and Aqua or Takeru and Flame, their relationship isn’t quite one to one or near it. So, this is speculation but, Earth probably would have the inclination towards familial relationships and probably has one of the stronger inclinations towards it because Spectre clearly craves that kind of connection.

It is no secret that if any Vrains character was going to have a mother complex, it would be Spectre (with, in my opinion, Dojun Kengo/Blood Shepherd in a rather distant second position). Spectre craves mother’s love very strongly and his only regret during the Incident was the fact that he couldn’t share all the fun he was having with his dear mother tree. This imprinted quite strongly on Earth, as evidenced by his duels with Playmaker and Onizuka wherein he uses a tree as his platform to duel. So, this strong bond for connections would absolutely cause Earth to adore Kusanagi Shoichi.

Now, to conclude the examination round with Windy. With Windy’s Origin’s status still hidden from us, save for his appearance and even then… there is speculation, it is impossible to make grounded claims. So, i’m not even going to bother save for reiterating it seems to be a safe bet to say that Windy’s Kid is an only child. So that’s that, even if its a cop out but what do we do with this information? 

Well, to long didn’t read, this was the perfect - if a little bizarre - case study to examine the Origin-Ignis relationships through and to long didn’t read, all the Ignises have some sort of proclivity towards enjoying familal pack bonding and Kusanagi Shoichi is just too powerful a big brother, but I couldn’t entwine the “mother complex” thing because I don’t perceive as being like ducklings who see anything go “yep, that’s my mum” because Shoichi has brother energy. Uncle energy if you stretch it. But thank you for reading!


	11. Analysing The Ignis-Human Relationship Path Branches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted to incorrect-vrains-quotes 4th of March, 2019.

i have my tinfoil hat on and i’m to fuckin’ party

so whilst this image is probably more for artistic purposes than anything else, not to mention all the other branches it’s likely missing, I am still very down to analyse it

first, the number of branches each Ignis has:

  * **Ai:** 9
  * **Flame** : 7
  * **Aqua:** 9
  * **Earth:** 10
  * **Windy:** 6
  * **Lightning:** 0



disclaimer: i may have not been consistent with how i counted the different lines

windy having the least shown makes a lot of sense since he was the first to actively harm his origin; given his personality, a lot of his branches probably failed and the current timeline is the likeliest of all the outcomes that the simulation ran.

flame having the second least also makes a lot of sense, but for the inversed reason of above. since he and takeru are very amicable, there probably was a lot less wriggle room for things to go wrong, unless Takeru actually wound up hurting him in the early branches which was somewhat likely given pre-canon Takeru’s thuggishness & fear of ghosts.

now earth having the most makes a lot of sense because whilst he and Spectre have an odd relationship to say the least since Spectre was the only origin actively aware of the Ignis for the longest time so he had plenty of time to formulate a belief and given his early Hanoi affiliation, he didn’t even really have to make that decision. so, most of the early branches, which did not happen, are ones where he caused harm to Earth to sour the budding relationship. However thanks to Earth’s decompiling, he’s probably done a lot of introspection so a lot of his branches are shaky because Spectre is, in my opinion, equal parts likely to reject or accept earth so lots of branches because there’s plenty of precarious-ness as he doesn’t exactly seem redemptive as of his duel with Lightning. He did mourn Earth, but he isn’t exactly making great strides and is still content to be Rev’s aide with plenty of unquestionable loyalty backing him if the implications of the new ending are anything to go by.

ai and aqua having the same number i’m still trying to puzzle out and i have half-formed ideas, most of Ai’s hinging on him deciding not to play the fool and let Yusaku know everything from the get go and that leads to two possibilities: Yusaku accepting him and Yusaku rejecting him. I think early s1 Yusaku could have seriously hurt Ai, out of fear similar to Takeru, if he knew that Ai was his Ignis and connected very intimately to the Lost Incident

as for Aqua… im not sure, it depends on what sort of person you think canon timeline miyu is and we haven’t got much of a clue but it’s fairly safe to say that she’s the median between Yusaku and Takeru on the scale in my head which i did try to mud map but the resulting product didn’t even make a lick of sense to me so uh yeah

furthermore, aside from the number of branches, we also have varying levels of when paths were taken: presumably first contact and the outcome of first contact.

  * **Ai:** first/earliest
  * **Flame:** second
  * **Earth:** third
  * **Windy & Aqua: **tied for latest



Aqua having two widely branching paths could be representative of the fact that she had the opportunity to experience partnership with two humans from the beginning thanks to Aoi’s tangible presence in Miyu’s life. Also, these partnerships begin extremely late game however, according to the lines that I meticulously drew, I discovered that Aqua and Windy both begin at the same delay.

This is super interesting, I thought that Windy took off before her, but nope. And I have no idea what conclusion to draw from that based on current information about Miyu and Windy’s Origin. I like to believe that Windy’s Kid was scared by the Ignis presence, maybe Windy came on too strong or something or the Kid wants nothing to do with the Incident at all and Windy’s appearance was not good for that aspiration. Maybe Miyu is in a similar boat? Or maybe Windy had planned to knock his kid off from the get-go so his delay was pre-meditative murder and Aqua’s delay might be a result of the fact that she wanted to wait for the other’s and see how it went, or she was waiting for Miyu and Aoi’s lives to align once more, perhaps? I don’t think she has premeditated murder on her mind, is what I’m saying.

Ai being first makes sense if first contact was facilitated by the attack on the Cyberse World by Hanoi five years ago. He was the only one with the ability to move freely, after all so he had plenty of time to cross-paths with Yusaku by his own volition.

Flame coming in second is unsurprising. After all, Flame found Takeru quite easily and before Lightning found Jin. Furthermore, unlike Earth and Ai, Flame doesn’t have the stressors such as “Origin is aware of him and wants to kill him” and “I have to be responsible for hiding the remants of the Cyberse World” respectively. Furthermore, Flame and Takeru gel exceptionally well; whilst they don’t have the sort of 1:1 that Aqua and Miyu have, they do come quite close. Closer to that ratio compared to say Jin and Lighting or Ai and Yusaku. 

Earth being third, I found surprising. Before I did my line work, I assumed he would either be first or last. First because his window of opportunity with Spectre was quickly closing from the moment the Incident began or last because of said window closed then the decompiling happened. So, third is quite odd, I feel and coupled with the fact that he has the most branches is intriguing because I feel it reinstates the fact that whilst he and Spectre could have a great relationship, it is hampered by the fact that Spectre is quite ready to fulfil his master’s orders unless, he’s harbouring his own secret in his soul.

also, as my final send off: i think the current timeline is the path for all the ignis which is undisrupted. to demonstrate what I mean, I’ve highlighted what I believe the ‘undisrupted’ paths are

(aqua’s was the hardest to map because she has so many equally likely split-offs and I wasn’t going to guess)


	12. Earth's Design Aspects

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted to incorrect-vrains-quotes on the 11th of April, 2019.

actually, since we’re talking Ignis designs today, I gotta go over my boy Earth’s.

I have mixed feelings about his design. On one hand, I love him. He’s big and solid; exactly how rocks and, well, earth should look personified. On the other hand, he doesn’t seem 100% cohesive to the Ignis design aspects. But, on the whole, he is my boy and I do adore him regardless of how clunky he looks.

The other male Ignis are, for lack of a better word, super twink-y. They’re small and androgynous; in fact, despite being male, design-wise, Earth has more in common with Aqua. Aqua's “girl” features are obviously her eyes, crests, and hips. Earth, interestingly, has a bigger chest than her, as well as hips. It’s really interesting to me that Earth shares those sort of female-coded designs with Aqua and yet is still aggressively masculine. It hits a strange sweet spot with me. 

It’s also a really nice way of othering him and Aqua as the initially neutral Ignis; though, Aqua obviously sided with the humans and Earth did as well, kind of? He certainly is anti-Lightning so I think that at least makes him pro-Playmaker. I just thought it was a nice touch, especially since Earth does have a seemingly reciprocated crush on Aqua.

But, what I dislike that Earth has such a small head. I dislike that he’s the only Ignis without “crests”, as I call them. That being said, I have no idea how I would remedy this so yeah…. It’s just personal distaste, for me. I think my main gripe with it is because I don’t know one hundred per-cent what Earth would look like in his tentacle-form and i think he’d look uncool without the crests. Like, Ai looks bitching in his tentacle form and part of the implied menace is his extended head.

Though I do like the theory that all the Ignis, not just Aqua and the obvious Blue Angel connection, at least partially, were inspired by fictional characters that the children liked, in Earth’s case, Spectre likely identified more with monsters and villains, hence Earth’s almost Frankenstein’s Monster-esque build. That does relieve some of my angst over the size of Earth’s head.

However, another thing I really like about Earth is his square motif which may sound hypocritical in relation to my previous statement but this is a slightly different angle to it. Earth is very square, but he’s still quite rounded. From the curved outline of his head to the rounded corners on the markings on his palm, Earth is both “square” and “round”. Round things generally tend to be friend-coded and square things are reliable-coded; I really like that for Earth. Again, it hits a sweet spot with me. 

After all, it’s no secret that I want Earth and Spectre to meet and be friends. So, these design aspects really do tie nicely into that sort of narrative, I feel. After all, squares are sharp-pointed and that does, in my mind at the very least, link to Spectre’s dislike of humans, something he had prior to the Incident, but rounded too, therefore friend shaped, and Spectre absolutely needs a friend. The mix of soft and hard, I feel does strike him as “neutral” but his personality feels human-friendly and I really like that this feels so expertly conveyed in his design.


	13. Selective Mutism and Spectre

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted to my personal account 6th of June 2019.

Spectre, despite having appeared twice so far and despite being third wheel to Ema and Kengo who are duelling next week, still hasn’t spoken in this season and isn’t due to speak for quite some time yet. But I have a new theory.

I complained about this before and when I did, I did briefly consider this possibility before deciding the answer was elsewhere. That is to say, in episode 103, Spectre didn’t speak because Ryoken told him not. I decided its because Spectre is being introduced to the others gradually like a pet cat and a pet dog. Others said that he was simply not allowed to speak because he’d say some freak shit and irritate Team Playmaker which likely would have gone against Ryoken’s desired outcome for the interaction. But I have a new, solidifying conclusion: Spectre has selective mutism.

At the time, I dismissed this but now that I’m reading up on this disorder, it actually aligns quite well with what we know about Spectre’s childhood and how the Link VRAINS function.

Beginning with the latter item, the Link VRAINS, we’ll start there. The Link VRAINS functions on the basic premise of “if you can imagine doing it, it can be performed there”. As Spectre does most his speaking in the Link VRAINS, he is able to freely communicate. Compared to his IRL scenes where, if I recall correctly, he’s only ever spoken to Ryoken and it was just before his duel with Blood Shepherd. All other times we’ve seen IRL Spectre, he hasn’t spoken.

In hindsight, one of his most notably quiet moments IRL was when he reacted to Earth having been placed inside of Go Onizuka’s brain. If memory serves correct, he didn’t make a sound. Not even an exasperated groan; something other characters are prone to do, for example, Takeru who often makes all sorts of noises when he’s upset and frustrated. Perhaps Spectre was simply psychologically unable to vocalise in that moment.

Additionally, in Spectre’s backstory, his child self was not depicted speaking - although, in the dub, I believe he was. He was also depicted as being socially isolated and as a child who was rude to the others of the orphanage. That sort of social avoidance and temperament are incredibly common to children with selective mutism. And if Spectre was, canonically, selectively mute, it would certainly add friction between his and peers.

However, Spectre mentions that after the Incident occurred, he wanted to speak about it. Being told to not speak about it, now that he was finally ready to communicate more conventionally, would have put a lot of pressure on him and add another layer to his hatred of how he knew society.

So, in the upcoming episode where he is not due to speak but certainly appear as Akira relegated him to the Bessho-Dojun sibling team, it would make sense for him to not speak as he has been put in a typically stressful situation for someone with selective mutism. Similarly, returning to episode 103, Spectre appearing in front of Yusaku and Takeru IRL for the first time would also be another typically stressful situation for someone with selective mutism. And given the facial expressions Spectre made during that episode - most of which looked grumpy, sulking, or uncomfortable - that adds extra support to this possibility.

And there you have it. That’s my pitch for why I think it’s possible that Spectre has selective mutism.


	14. Revolver-sensei: His Father's Son

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted to incorrect-vrains-quotes on the 4th of July, 2019.

okay, it’s tinfoil hat time because I just remembered something and I want to roll with it. Ai calling Revolver “Revolver-sensei” is making me extremely nervous because I’m worried it’s an allusion to a very big plot twist: Ryoken is a clone of Dr Kogami. Okay, I know how that sounds but bear with me. From what we’ve seen, Ryoken doesn’t have a mother but he definitely has a father. We cannot dispute that because their eyebrows are the same; no other characters in the series have that sort of hashed (bushy?) brows style. Additionally, we’ve already had a lot of speculation that Ryoken likely wasn’t born of natural means. Everything from in vitro to he’s actually an artificial construct. So, this gives us a good basis for believing that he may not be as human as we’ve seen and I think that would be an irony on the grandest scale, threading seasons one, two, and hopefully three.

Second of all, I doubt that Dr Kogami could have created the Ignis out of the gate like he did. Six months doesn’t seem like all that long. Two years and six months sounds slightly more reasonable. But where am I pulling this two years from? Taki. She was 20 during the Incident so it’s not outside of reason that the progress towards the Incident began when she just got out of high school and landed this cursed internship as part of her university education.

Third of all, what about, eight years and six months. That sounds the most reasonable of all, yeah? But where did these eight years come from? Ryoken.

I’ve made furtive references to this before but I genuinely think Ryoken was conceived via unnatural means as a sort of proto-Ignis which Dr Kogami used to understand if 1. Life can be sustained inside of lab conditions from conception to “birth”. and 2. Life can remain sustained after “birth”. After all, the Ignis wouldn’t be very useful if they couldn’t remain “alive” for as long as possible.

Now returning to the cloning theory. We don’t know what Kiyoshi Kogami looked like as a young man. For all we know, and I hate myself for saying this, he could have been the splitting image of Ryoken. Additionally, with no mother in the picture, we can’t even begin to guess as to what her genetic make-up looks like. And how it would have, in turn, affected Ryoken.

All of Dr Kogami’s motivations come back to this: Kiyoshi was a man obsessed with life after death. Through the Ignis, he wanted to assure life after the death of all humanity. However, he’s also an extremely selfish man. All his actions put numerous lives in danger and it had huge ripples throughout the series. It makes sense to me that he would have started his goal with someone in mind: himself. So, he decided to ensure his life after death: Ryoken.

I think this would add another layer of pain to Revolver’s most poignant moments; such as with the Season 1 climax and his loss to Lightning. Dr Kogami continues to use this child - his child - as his lifeline because that’s what Ryoken was literally designed to be. This would be an extreme shackle to bear as a fate which would link to many of Vrains’ more consistent themes of being a prisoner to destiny, to keep going forward, especially if Revolver heel turns again and is finally able to shed the truth of his conception. Yes, he was made to “become” his father but he doesn’t have to be and this sort of becomes a truth in fiction.

I watched a documentary once about cloning farm animals and racehorses. A trainer had her favourite racehorse cloned and it turned into a great experiment of nature vs nurture because the clone, in her eyes, didn’t look like it was going to live up to the potential of its former self which was the product of nurture, rather than nature. And the farm animals, these calves were all clones of each other yet not one looked the same. It’s a cruel comparison, maybe, but I can see inklings of that in Ryoken through this lens.

So, let’s hope, that Ai’s taunts aren’t the echoes of a twist like this because good lord, poor Ryoken.


End file.
